Fishing has picked up, despite the rainy conditions of the past week. There have been some good hatches of Blue-Winged Olives, especially on the West Branch, and fly fishers have been buying Gray Foxes for the East Branch. Hendrickson are still hatching sporadically, mainly on the Beaverkill, in addition to caddis flies. A Beaverkill angler had good luck yesterday afternoon fishing with a size #16 Adams; and an East Branch fisherman caught two nice browns fishing with Gray Foxes. And on an early morning walk with our beagle this morning I noticed several tiny rises just after sunrise.

A check of the USGS website showed that the Beaverkill at Cooks Falls was flowing 820 cubic feet per second, which is above the average level for May 15 of 525 cfs over 102 years of record-keeping. The minimum flow recorded was 149 cubic feet per second back in 2001, and the maximum flow recorded on May 15 was 6790 cfs in 2012.

Water temperatures this past week ranged from a low of 44 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday morning to a high of 55 degrees F on Friday afternoon.

The East Branch Delaware River was flowing above the average level; recorded at 1750 cubic feet per second this afternoon, as compared to the average flow of 960 cfs, based on 61 years of record-keeping. The minimum flow recorded was 280 cubic feet per second in 2001 and the maximum flow recorded on May 8 was 7990 cfs in 2012. After Saturday’s heavy rains, Pepacton is still spilling; the spill point on the East Branch is 1280 cubic feet per second.

Water temperatures on the East Branch this past week ranged from a low of 46 degrees F last Tuesday morning to a high of 55 degrees F on Friday afternoon.